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Church of Satan

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The Church of Satan is an organization for those who practice self-preservation as articulated in The Satanic Bible, written in 1969 by Anton Szandor LaVey.

It is described by its high priest as being a religion of atheists who do not actually believe in God, Satan, or an afterlife. Therefore, people should enjoy their current life and live it to the fullest. [1]

History

The Church of Satan was established in San Francisco, California, on April 30, 1966 by Anton Szandor LaVey, who was the Church's High Priest until his death in 1997.[2]

In the 1950s, Anton LaVey, formed a group called the Order of the Trapezoid, which later evolved into the governing body of the Church of Satan. Those involved, or who attended LaVey’s activities included: “The Baroness” Carin de Plessen (who grew up in a Royal Palace in Denmark), Dr. Cecil Nixon (magician, eccentric, and maker of automatons), underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger, City Assessor Russell Wolden, Donald Werby (one of San Francisco’s most influential property owners), anthropologist Michael Harner, writer Shana Alexander, a dildo manufacturer, a plastic surgeon, a famous tattoo artist, the grandson of U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt[citation needed], and the owner of one of the world’s largest collections of Fabergé artifacts. Other LaVey associates from this time period include noted Science Fiction and Horror writers Anthony Boucher, August Derleth, Robert Barbour Johnson, Reginald Bretnor, Emil Petaja, Stuart Palmer, Clark Ashton Smith, Forrest J. Ackerman, and Fritz Leiber Jr.

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Church of Satan logo

In the first year of its foundation, Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan attracted considerable media attention by publicly performing a Satanic marriage of Judith Case and radical journalist John Raymond. The ceremony was photographed by Joe Rosenthal, who took the famous photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima during World War II. Another event was the public funeral of Church of Satan member and Naval Officer Edward Olson, at the request of his wife.

The Church of Satan was mentioned in many books and was the subject of multiple magazine and newspaper articles during the 1960s and 1970s. It was also the subject of a full-length documentary, Satanis (1970). LaVey also appeared in Kenneth Anger’s film Invocation of my Demon Brother, acted as technical adviser on The Devil's Rain, which starred Ernest Borgnine, William Shatner, and introduced John Travolta. The Church of Satan was also featured in a segment of Luigi Scatini’s film Angeli Blanca, Angeli Negra, released in the United States as "Witchcraft ‘70".

In 1975, LaVey created controversy within the Church of Satan by phasing out the Church’s “Grotto” system and eliminating people he thought were using the Church as a substitute for accomplishment in the outside world. Thereafter, conventional achievement in society would be the criterion for advancement within the Church of Satan. At the same time, LaVey became more selective in granting interviews. This shift to “closed door” activities resulted in some rumors of the Church’s demise, and even rumors of LaVey’s death.

In the 1980s, voices including Christians, therapists specializing in recovered memories, and the media renewed concerns of criminal conspiracies relating to the Church of Satan. Members of the Church of Satan, such as Peter H. Gilmore, Peggy Nadramia, Boyd Rice, Adam Parfrey, Diabolos Rex, and musician King Diamond, were active in media appearances to refute allegations of criminal activity. The FBI would later issue an official report refuting the criminal conspiracy theories of this time. This phenomenon became known as “The Satanic Panic.”

In the 1980s and '90s, the Church of Satan and its members were very active in producing movies, music, films, and magazines devoted to Satanism. Most notably Adam Parfrey’s Feral House publishing, the music of Boyd Rice, the mystical musicology of Desmond Hayes-Lynge, and the films of Nick Bougas, including his documentary Speak of the Devil: The Canon of Anton LaVey. The Church of Satan and Anton LaVey were also the subject of numerous magazine and news articles during this time.

After Anton Szandor LaVey's death, his position as head of the Church of Satan passed on to his common law wife, Blanche Barton. To this day, Barton remains involved in the Church; however, in 2001 she ceded her position to long-time members Peter H. Gilmore and Peggy Nadramia, the current High Priest and High Priestess and publishers of The Black Flame, the official magazine of The Church of Satan. The Central Office of the Church of Satan has also moved from San Francisco to New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, where the couple resides. The Church of Satan does not recognize any other organizations as holding legitimate claim to Satanism and its practice, though it does recognize that one need not be a member of the Church of Satan to be a Satanist.

Many famous figures have at one time or another been publicly associated with the Church of Satan, including Kenneth Anger, King Diamond, Marilyn Manson, Boyd Rice, Marc Almond, Alkaline Trio guitarist and singer Matt Skiba and drummer Derek Grant, professional wrestler Balls Mahoney, professional wrestler Sterling James Keenan, journalist Michael Moynihan, Sammy Davis Jr. and the artist Coop.[citation needed] As the Church of Satan does not publicly release membership information, it is not known how many members belong to the Church.

On June 6, 2006, The Church of Satan held the first public ritual Satanic Mass at the Steve Allen Theater in the Center for Inquiry in Los Angeles. The ritual, based on the rites outlined in The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Rituals, was conducted by Reverend Bryan Moore and Priestess Heather Saenz. [1]

Membership

Peter H. Gilmore, current high priest of the Church of Satan

The Church of Satan has two types of members: Registered Members and Active Members. Registered Members are simply people who have been inducted as members of the Church, and there are no requirements to achieve this position. To be deemed an Active Member, a person has to be involved with the Church and local members. Active Membership is divided into five Degrees:

First Degree - Satanist
Second Degree - Warlock/Witch
Third Degree - Priest/Priestess
Fourth Degree - Magister/Magistra
Fifth Degree - Magus/Maga

Active Members begin at the First Degree. One must apply and be approved for an Active Membership, and this is subject to one's answers to a lengthy series of questions. One cannot apply for higher Degrees, and the requirements for each degree are not open to the public. Promotion to a higher degree is by invitation only. Members of the Third through Fifth degrees constitute the Priesthood and may be addressed as "Reverend." Members of the Fifth degree may also be known as "Doctor."

Individuals seeking membership must be legally defined as adults in their nation of residence. The only exception made is for children of members who demonstrate an understanding of the Church philosophy and practices who wish to join. Their participation is limited until they reach legal adulthood.

Registering as a Member

The Church of Satan does not solicit membership. Those who wish to affiliate can become a Registered Member for a one-time registration fee of two hundred dollars ($200) in United States currency. Affiliates receive a red card declaring them as a member of the Church of Satan to other members.

Dis-affiliation

Church of Satan members may resign and terminate their affiliation at any time by sending a written, dated, and signed letter stating “I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Satan,” along with their membership card, to the Central Administrative Office, and their file will be closed.

Administrative termination

Memberships may be terminated at the discretion of the ruling body of the Church of Satan consisting of the High Priest, the High Priestess and the Council of Nine.

Agents

The Church of Satan authorizes some Active Members as Agents, qualified to represent the Church of Satan and to explain the philosophy of Satanism to the media and other interested parties.

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Founder, Anton LaVey

Priesthood

Members of the Priesthood act as spokespersons for the philosophy of the Church of Satan, which include the titles of “Priest”/“Priestess,” “Magister”/“Magistra,” “Magus”/“Maga.” Members of the Priesthood make up the Council of Nine, which is the ruling body of the Church of Satan. The Order of the Trapezoid consists of the individuals who assist in the administration of the Church of Satan. The High Priest and Priestess act as administrative chiefs and primary public representatives; each position (High Priest and High Priestess) is held by a single individual at a time. The current High Priest is Peter H. Gilmore, the current High Priestess Peggy Nadramia.

The Church of Satan evaluates active members for the Priesthood by their accomplishment in society—mastered skills and peer recognition within a profession—rather than by mastery of irrelevant occult trivia. While expected to be experts in communicating the Satanic philosophy, members of the Priesthood are not required to speak on behalf of the Church of Satan, and may even choose to keep their affiliation and rank secret in order to better serve their personal goals, as well as those of the organization. Membership in the Priesthood is by invitation only.

Past & present Church of Satan Priesthood

  • Zeena LaVey - Daughter of Anton & Diane, High Priestess 1985 - 1990
  • Karla LaVey - Daughter of Anton & Carole, High Priestess 1990 - 1997
  • Blanche Barton - Anton's Assistant, High Priestess 1997 - 2002, now Magistra Templi Rex

The Main Texts of Satanism

Satanists within the church of Satan are given these as guidelines on how to live.

The Nine Satanic Statements

The Nine Satanic Statements are to outline what Satan within the Church of Satan Symbolizes. They are:

  1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence!
  2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams!
  3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit!
  4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates!
  5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek!
  6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires!
  7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all!
  8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!
  9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years!

The Nine Satanic Sins

  1. Stupidity
  2. Pretentiousness
  3. Solipsism
  4. Self-deceit
  5. Herd Conformity
  6. Lack of Perspective
  7. Forgetfulness of Past Orthodoxies
  8. Counterproductive Pride
  9. Lack of Aesthetics

The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth

  1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
  2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.
  3. When in another’s lair, show him respect or else do not go there.
  4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.
  5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
  6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved.
  7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.
  8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.
  9. Do not harm little children.
  10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.
  11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.

The Grotto System

Over the years, the Church of Satan social laboratory has embraced, then disbanded, and then revived the use of Grottos as a means by which individuals in geographic proximity form an association for ritualization, socialization, and the pursuit of various projects. With the ubiquity of the Internet and the ease of electronic communication, the Church of Satan have decided that they no longer require the formality of forming Grottos as a mode for members to socialize or engage in ritual. Should a group of Church of Satan members now wish to form a “magic circle” for purposes beyond basic social and ritual interaction, and can keep it healthy and active for a year and a day, the leader of that circle may apply to have it formalized as a Grotto with himself chartered as Grotto Master. But the Grotto is expected to remain clandestine, an underground cell that only the privileged may eventually come to know. If a Grotto outlives its usefulness it will be disbanded, as has always been the policy of the Church of Satan. Grotto Masters are not de facto spokespersons for the Church of Satan, nor are Grottos local representations of the Church of Satan.

See also

Further reading

Books by Anton LaVey

The Church of Satan

Writings by Anton LaVey

Interviews with Anton LaVey

About Anton LaVey

Interviews with Peter Gilmore

  1. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4SraX4inJw
  2. ^ http://www.churchofsatan.com/home.html
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